Huge change to your takeaways within days after ban – and shoppers will be divided

A HUGE change to your takeaways will occur within days when a new ban comes into force.

Single-use plastic plates, cutlery and food containers will be axed from October 1.

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The ban will apply to takeaways but not those used in shelf-ready pre-packaged food.

Single-use balloon sticks, polystyrene cups, bowls and trays will also be outlawed.

It comes as the government seeks to curb the “devastating” impact of plastic on the environment.

Department officials said that England uses around 2.7billion items of single-use cutlery per year – only 10% of which is recycled.

The ban will be enforced through civil sanctions – but repeated breaches could end up in a criminal offence.

Minister Thérèse Coffey said the bans “continue work to protect the environment.”

She added: “We all know the absolutely devastating impacts that plastic can have on our environment and wildlife.

“We have listened to the public and these new single-use plastics bans will continue our vital work to protect the environment for future generations.”

The Sun was the first to reveal the news of the upcoming ban last year.

The Government is also said to be considering whether other measures are needed to target commonly littered items such as wet wipes, tobacco filters and sachets.

Environment Minister Rebecca Pow also said that the Government would also be “pressing ahead with our ambitious plans for a deposit return scheme for drinks containers and consistent recycling collections in England.”

Plastic straws, cotton buds and coffee stirrers were banned in England in October 2020 to help tackle single-use plastic pollution.

The ban was first announced in 2018 and was due to come into effect in April 2020 but was pushed back due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It came after research showed that an estimated 4.7billion plastic straws, 316million plastic stirrers and 1.8billion plastic-stemmed cotton buds are used in England every year.

Many retailers swapped the plastic products with paper alternatives before the ban, like McDonald’s which ditched plastic straws back in 2018.

Before this, efforts had been focused on getting rid of single-use plastic bags supplied by retailers.

In 2015, the government slapped a 5p charge per single-use plastic bag handed out at supermarkets.

The charge rose to 10p in April 2021 and extended to all retailers, including corner shops and newsagents.

Beauty, cleaning and health products containing microbeads have also been banned in the UK since 2018.

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk